Aeocondren
by Jess the Minstrel
Summary: This is the true love story of Legolas. I'm tired of all these gross, mushy fanfics that make no sense and have barely any plot. Here is the real thing. This story is supposed to sound as if a minstrel were telling it, hence the arrangment of the words.
1. Default Chapter

Barahir's Deliverance  
  
Part I  
  
In the year 2500 of the third age, the elf-maid Aeocondren was born to Yavanna and Umbil in the Woodland realm of Thranduil. While still a very young child, her parents made the decision to depart over the Sea with Celebrian, who had been severely wounded by the spider's poison. However, when the time came for them to leave, they were detained, and Celebrian traveled on without them. Umbil chose to stay in Mirkwood until his daughter was older, that she might be educated and grow among others of her kind.  
  
For almost five hundred years Aeocondren dwelt in Thranduil's kingdom; then, in 2990, her father was killed in a surprise attack by the orcs while out hunting on the further edges of Mirkwood. Aeocondren's mother, Yavanna, broken-hearted over Umbil's death, made ready to depart for the Undying Lands. Aeocondren was to accompany her, although it was not the young elf's will to depart from Middle-Earth so soon.  
  
Alas! While they traversed from Mirkwood and were almost to the Shire where they would pass through to the Tower and the Harbor, a band of wandering orcs fell upon them. ...  
  
Screams and shrieks rose all around. Many of the elves were taken unawares, intent only on the peaceful thought of the Journey over the Sea they were soon to have undertaken. Those who could whipped out their bows and instantly began firing arrows at the attacking orcs.  
  
Aeocondren was riding towards the back of the column with the last of the escort, when she heard the commotion. Almost at once her sharp ears pricked at the sound of a harsh voice crying out in ugly tones.  
  
"Yrch!" the elf next to her shouted. They galloped towards the head of the line, making ready their bows.  
  
"No room for arrows, knife-work here!" Aeocondren yelled. All of the elves carried some kind of knife or sword. They fought with all their strength, but the orcs were too many. One by one the elves fell under the sheer weight of the number of their foes. Fighting for her life, Aeocondren saw her mother go down under a wave of roaring goblins. She fought her way over to her and struggled to lift Yavanna up. The elf's face was white, and she clutched at a dagger in her side.  
  
"No," she whispered as her daughter tried to help her, "fly! Save yourself, we are doomed..." she pulled something out of her tunic and pressed it into her daughter's hand. "Here, you must take this. Do not put it on, or the power it possesses will begin to take over your mind. Do not let the enemy..." she shuddered, and strained to complete her sentence. "Do not let anyone have it except the Son of the Trees! Go to him; he will know what to do..." her voice died out, and she sunk back into her daughter's arms. Her spirit had departed.  
  
"Aeocondren, go!" the young elf turned and saw one of her friends battling a huge goblin. The warrior yelled at her, "We're doomed! Flee to Rivendell!"  
  
"No!" Aeocondren cried, as an axe whirred through the air and struck the elf a glancing blow in his side. The young elf grunted and fell to his knees. "Leave, Aeocondren, now!"  
  
He was covered by a crowd of orcs. Everywhere the elves were falling. Aeocondren took one last look and fled into the forest back towards the way they had come.  
  
A group of orcs saw her run, and followed her, roaring in their foul language. One of them shot at her with an ill-made arrow, which nevertheless thudded into her side and made her gasp and stumble for a moment.  
  
Suddenly, Aeocondren stopped, almost falling into a deep gully that yawned in front of her. She desperately looked for a way across. The orcs came shrieking out of the trees. She began to run along the edge of the rift, finally finding an old tree that had fallen across it. Running unsteadily over the canyon, she stopped half way as she realized the orcs were following her!  
  
Emptying her last arrows into their ranks, she wavered on the narrow tree; her only weapon left was a dagger and her now useless bow. The orcs crowded along the opposite bank, jeering.  
  
"Give up," they hissed, "you are defeated!"  
  
Aeocondren drew herself up tall. "Never!" she shouted.  
  
"Rac, terhante, mi'i esse Aldaron Orome, ni ello elyena hante mi'i Iluvatar esse!"  
  
At her words, the tree under her feet shook. Then, amid the howls of the enraged goblins, it shattered into a thousand pieces as Aeocondren leapt clear safely to the other side of the crevice. She instantly took cover as the orcs sent a volley of arrows hurtling after her.  
  
After a while, though, her enemies left, cursing. She scrambled shakily out of the bushes, fell, got up again, and set out unsteadily. How far she traveled, she never knew. A fever took hold of her weakened body, and loss of blood finally brought her to a halt.  
  
"Yavanna, where are you?" she murmured dazedly. Death was still incomprehensible to the youthful elf. She blacked out, lying where she had dragged herself under a patch of ferns.  
  
Part II  
Two hobbits tramped cheerfully through the woods. The afternoon was sunny and bright, and though they were not too far from home, they were carrying enough provisions as if they were going to live through a seven- year famine. The eldest, a lad of twenty-two (about 14 or 15, in our age) with curly dark brown hair, appeared to be telling the younger one a story.  
  
"...and so, Bilbo packed all his gold up in huge chests, loaded them on his pony, and carried them home! Of course, you know how Lobelia Sackville- Baggins was almost going to buy his house. If he wouldn't have arrived home in the nick of time like he did, she might have..."  
  
He was stopped short by a shriek from the other hobbit. "Look!" the young hobbit stammered, pointing to a spot in the undergrowth, "I saw something get up and jump into the bushes!"  
  
The brown haired one peered around carefully. "Aw, Sam," he said, "There's nothing around here for miles except us. You must be seeing things. Maybe it was a squirrel, or a fox..."  
  
"It wasn't! I saw somebody's foot," Sam whispered. The other hobbit suddenly stiffened.  
  
"You know," he whispered back, "I think I just heard something. Wait here." He picked up a stout stick and slid as quietly as he could into the greenery. Sam waited breathlessly for a few minutes.  
  
All of a sudden, he heard a shout, then a weak cry! He plunged through the bushes towards the noise, and came upon his companion, who was kneeling beside a limp form in the grass.  
  
"Quick, Sam," the hobbit gasped, "get my pack! I've found an elf, and it looks like she's hurt bad." Sam quickly complied.  
  
The dark-haired hobbit took out several napkins, and proceeded to clean and bandage the elf-maid's wound. She moaned, and slowly opened her eyes. Seeing where she was, she struggled to sit up, but the hobbit gently pushed her back down.  
  
"No, just stay where you are," he said, "you've got a nasty cut in your side. I'm trying to patch you up. Does it hurt anywhere else?"  
  
Aeocondren stared at him. "You're a...a... what are you?" she gasped.  
  
"I'm a hobbit," he said in surprise, "You've never seen one before?" The elf shook her head in amazement. "Never."  
  
"Oh," the lad said. "Well, you're in the woods just north of the hobbit land of Bree. Me and my friend Samwise, here," he motioned to Sam, who bobbed his head politely, "were tramping through the forest, and found you lying down and out."  
  
"Yes," Aeocondren groaned, "my mother, my friends, waylaid by orcs..."  
  
Though both hobbits' eyes widened, the older one soothed the fretful elf and said quietly, "Don't think about what happened right now, you can do that later. You have to rest."  
  
"Thank you," Aeocondren breathed, closing her eyes and lying back on the ferns. The dark-haired hobbit was about to go gather wood for a fire when she turned to him once more.  
  
"Who are you?" she asked.  
  
"Me?" the young hobbit answered, "I'm Frodo. Frodo Baggins."  
  
Part III  
  
The hobbits stayed with Aeocondren all that evening. At night, Frodo made a fire, and they gathered around it. Sam sat across from the girl, watching her with wide eyes, but after a while he fell asleep, snoring softly wrapped in his cloak.  
  
Frodo curled up in a blanket beside Aeocondren. For an hour, he listened to her tragic story. Then they sat in silence for a little while.  
  
"What are you going to do now?" Frodo asked quietly.  
  
"Before my mother...died," Aeocondren struggled to get out the words, "she gave me something wrapped up in a piece of cloth. She said to not put it on, or give it to anyone except the 'Son of the Tree', whoever that is."  
  
"What did she give you?" Frodo questioned.  
  
Aeocondren pulled the cloth out of her worn garment and carefully unwrapped it. Hobbit and elf gasped as into her hands dropped a beautiful ring! It was made in the fashion of two serpents that had emerald eyes. One of the serpents was devouring and the other, supporting a crown crafted of fine golden leaves. In the middle of the crown was a gem so magnificent that in spite of its minuteness it dazzled the eye. Frodo and Aeocondren gazed at the ring for a moment, and then looked away.  
  
"I do not know what ring this is, or where it came from," Aeocondren whispered, "but it must be of great value. My mother said that it had great power, and if I put it on, that power would begin to take over my mind."  
  
"Now that's an eye-opener, and no mistake," Frodo breathed, looking at the shining jewel. It seemed to change colors before their eyes, being dark purple one minute and light green or white the next.  
  
Aeocondren broke the quiet. "I must take this ring to...to... Rivendell is the closest, I believe."  
  
Frodo tore his gaze away from it and looked at her. "I'll go with you."  
  
"No, you can't," Aeocondren began, when he interrupted.  
  
"Oh, please let me go with you!" he said excitedly, "I've always longed to go on an adventure, and this would be the perfect chance! And, you're not much older than me, I think..."  
  
"I'm almost five hundred years old," Aeocondren told him, amusement in her voice.  
  
"Oh." Frodo looked downcast.  
  
"I know I still look like a child, and in some ways I am," she smiled at him, "but this quest is for me alone. There are still orcs lurking in these woods. Have you noticed how I keep my dagger always at hand? And that I told Sam to keep the fire low? We must be cautious. And Sam. What about him? He is younger than you, and couldn't go on a long journey. You must have a family that would miss you, also."  
  
"My family is dead," Frodo said softly. "Parents drowned when I was a baby. I've been passed around from home to home, but no one really wants me. They all say I'm too strange, always walking about in the woods and reading old books. They tell me to be sensible. Ha! Sensible," he snorted bitterly, "I've got a sight more sense than half of them have. No, nobody would miss me if I turned up lost.  
  
"Only," he glanced at Sam, sleeping peacefully with a smile on his face, "he has a family to go home to. His old Gaffer would chop off my ears if I let anything happen to his son."  
  
"Then," Aeocondren said, "you'd better stay here, for Sam's sake."  
  
After a moment, Frodo sighed. "Yes. Perhaps I should."  
  
Aeocondren smiled at him. "That is a good choice, Frodo Baggins."  
  
The plans were made. In the morning, she would set out for Rivendell. Frodo insisted that her wound was too much for her, and that she needed time to rest and let it heal, but she was firm in her decision. He compromised by giving her most of their food.  
  
Then they lay down. Frodo drifted off almost immediately, but Aeocondren, like all elves, did not sleep. She looked up at the stars above her in a gap through the trees and thought about her plight.  
  
Frodo was a good boy, she decided. She glanced at his pale face in the dark. He deserved better than what he had. Poor lad. Always running off into the woods to be away from relatives who didn't want him, with Sam, his only friend. She would have to do something about that.  
  
That ring. Whose was it? Where did it come from? For that matter, where did it belong? At Rivendell, Elrond would be sure to know. He was wise in the lore of rings. It would be a long, probably dangerous journey, but she was the last of the elves that could carry the ring to him, and if she failed... the ring would be lost. Her mother's last words puzzled her. Who was the Son of the Trees? Remembering her mother hurt. For the second time in her life, slow tears dripped down her cheeks. The last time she had cried had been when her father was killed. Now, she wept. 


	2. Chapter II

Part IV The hobbits rose early the next morning. Breakfast was sausage and toasted bread, which Aeocondren liked very much. After repacking their now bags, now almost empty because Frodo had given most of their food to the elf, Sam set about covering the ashes of the fire and making the camp look as natural as it had been before they'd arrived. While Sam was doing this, Frodo said goodbye to Aeocondren.  
  
"You will be very careful, won't you?" he said wistfully.  
  
"Yes," she smiled at him. "I made some more arrows last night, and my quiver is almost full now."  
  
"Orcs, beware!" Frodo gulped, looking at the fine-pointed weapons.  
  
"Frodo, I want to thank you for helping me so much," Aeocondren said.  
  
The lad blushed. "It was nothing. I couldn't leave anyone lying in the woods hurt."  
  
"You didn't have to stay with me all night, or give me all your provisions," the girl reminded him. He shrugged. "You'll need them more than me."  
  
"You have a kind heart, Frodo Baggins. I wish you had a family who cared for you like you deserve." Suddenly, she put her hands lightly on the hobbit's head. This was not difficult, as she was almost a foot taller than he was, although she was a young elf.  
  
Aeocondren closed her eyes, and spoke softly:  
  
"May it be- a friend to guide you, Protect, love, care for you, To keep you until your day dawns bright- So may it be."  
  
The young boy didn't know what she had said, but he understood her tone of blessing.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
She smiled and picked up her pack. "Farewell."  
  
As Frodo watched her striding off through the trees, he swallowed the lump in his throat and called, "Will I ever see you again?"  
  
She turned at the edge of the meadow and waved back to him.  
  
"If I succeed with my journey, I promise you, my friend, that I will come back!"  
  
Part V  
  
( Aeocondren traveled steadily through the forest for several days without seeing anyone. The wound in her side rarely bothered her, except at the end of the day when she had to lie down for a while. She rationed the food that Frodo had given her to last more than a week.  
  
She was almost positive that she was heading in the direction of Rivendell, but as she had never been there, she could only hope for the best.  
  
The fifth evening, however, she had stopped for the night when she heard far off the sound of tramping feet. Something told her to hide; she pulled herself up into a nearby oak tree. Her gray, green, and brown clothes provided natural camouflage, especially in the dark.  
  
Soon, to her great trepidation, a band of orcs appeared, marching carelessly through the vegetation. They seemed to be grumbling, and several were speaking in the Common Tongue, so Aeocondren listened.  
  
"I don't see why WE should have to slog through this bagronk sha land on the idea of a few horses," one of them was growling to another.  
  
The second orc shoved him, and roared, "You're under the orders of Urog, and what he says, goes! If you don't like it, then you can grigruk burfloshk dungrut..." his words died off into a string of curses. Aeocondren winced at the sound.  
  
The first orc went on: "Those wretched horseboys are sure to catch wind of what's going on! There's no gain in a few miserable nags if half of us are killed."  
  
"The Eye is the one who commanded us out," the other orc hissed, "and the horses are expressly his command. Nobody else knows about our plans, and we can even raid the village when we get there if we want!"  
  
The orcs passed on, howling their approval at the thought of plunder and slaughter. Aeocondren tried counting them as they passed under her tree, but they were so many that she lost count around two hundred.  
  
When the dreadful noise had died down into the distance, she jumped down from the oak. Evidently, the orcs were heading to the capital of Rohan, Edoras. Aeocondren did not know who was ruling there, but she did know that many of the men were away helping restore the city of Osgiliath; such information Aeocondren had heard just before leaving Mirkwood. If that many orcs attacked Rohan without warning, the people would surely all be killed!  
  
Aeocondren breathed deeply. She must be calm, and think clearly about what was best to do. Her original journey to Rivendell was set aside. Her first thought was how to get to Rohan before the orcs did. There was almost no possible way to do that, she realized with despair, for although the orcs were on foot as she was, they were capable of traveling greater distances more quickly than she could. From the way they were heading, they must be taking the fastest course there, through a virtually hidden mountain pass that wound about and then led to a plain, where on top of a hill a short distance away, was Edoras. Aeocondren thought quickly: at the rate the goblins were going, they would reach the city in three days!  
  
She had no choice. If the Rohirrim, people of Rohan, were to be warned in time, she must go as fast as she possibly could, for as long as she could.  
  
The elf-maid set off immediately in the moonlight, shouldering her light pack. She ran at a light trot away from the path the orcs had taken. There was no chance she could sneak past her enemies and go through the pass first, so she planned to try and find a different canyon to go through. How glad she was that she had diligently studied the geography of Rohan while she was at Mirkwood! She knew that the Ered Nimrais, the chain of mountains dividing Edoras from the forest and plains on the other side, had a few mountain passes that were difficult to locate, but much easier to travel then going straight over the virtually impassable peaks.  
  
Aeocondren squared her shoulders and ran faster.  
  
Part VI  
  
By morning, Aeocondren's side was throbbing. She had kept a steady pace all night, but now, with her almost healed wound aching, her legs threatened to give out. Her head spun with the pain. Finally, she stopped by a small stream for the first time since she had started out. It felt good to soak her feet in the cold water. She munched on the last bites of bread in her pack, and carefully peeled the bandage off the wound in her side. It stung so badly she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. With all her running, the arrow cut had reopened, and was bleeding again. After applying several herbs and a new bandage to the sore and drinking from the brook, she forced herself to start out running again.  
  
All through the day, she tried to keep going in the general direction where she believed the Ered Nimrais lay. By nightfall, her stomach was aching also from lack of food. She dug several roots and ate them, then lay down for several hours to rest. However, by the time the moon had risen, she was back on her feet towards the mountains, which were now slightly visible above the tops of the trees.  
  
As the sun rose the next day, she emerged from the forest onto the plain in front of the White Mountains. She could see where the orcs had rampaged through the waving grasses.  
  
"Oh no!" she cried, looking along their path of destruction. The goblins had already gone across the plain, and she caught a glimpse of the last of their procession disappearing into the mountain pass.  
  
It was several miles from the trees to the base of the mountains, and Aeocondren felt like despairing when she thought of the head start the orcs already had, and how tired she was. Nevertheless, she began running once again across the plain.  
  
Halfway across, exhaustion, hunger, and the pain of her wound overwhelmed her. She stumbled, picked herself up, ran a little ways, and fell to the ground. Her breath came in short gasps, and she felt the stickiness of blood beginning to seep through her tunic.  
  
"I must get up, I must!" she whispered, but her efforts were futile. She lay back and groaned, "Help me, Aldaron Orome, your child!"  
  
Part VII  
  
She slipped into unconsciousness. For several minutes, all was quiet on the plain. The wind blew over her still form, ruffling her long, dark hair.  
  
Suddenly, a group of horsemen emerge appeared out of the forest. They rode fearlessly out onto the open grassland towards the mountain pass the orcs had taken. Since they were riding along a different way there, they did not see the marks of the orcs' path.  
  
Most of the men cantered past the elf, not seeing her lying camouflaged on the ground, but then one man stopped. His horse had shied at the still body, and tripped in a hole, lodging a pebble in its hoof.  
  
The man dismounted, picked out the stone, and was about to ride on, when he noticed the girl. He took a closer look, then gave a piercing call. The other riders wheeled around and came galloping back to him. They all uttered exclamations of surprise at seeing an elf. The first man raised Aeocondren to a sitting position and tried to pour a trickle of water into her mouth. She coughed, swallowed, and blinked, slowly opening her eyes. When she saw who they were, she became awake almost at once.  
  
"You are men of Rohan?" she gasped, gratefully drinking the water the man gave her.  
  
"Yes," the man (little more than a boy himself, she noticed) said, gazing at her with astonishment. He offered her more water, but she shook her head.  
  
"You all must fly...fly to Edoras! You are being attacked by orcs!"  
  
The men all shouted with disbelief, but she went on. "No, you must believe me! It is true! I have been following them for two days and two nights, hoping to somehow warn your people of their coming!"  
  
The look of desperation in her eyes convinced all around that she was speaking the truth. One of the older men with gray in his golden beard approached her.  
  
"If what you say has come about, then we must ride with all haste to Edoras. But, in case you are lying," he glared stonily at her, "you must come with us, and we shall see..."  
  
"Oh, thank you!" Aeocondren cried weakly, "but we must go through a different pass, for the orcs have gone into that one," she pointed.  
  
The men talked amongst themselves for a minute in their own tongue. The young man who had first found her gave her a piece of dried jerky to eat, and she changed the bandage on her side, hoping that it would stop bleeding.  
  
Finally, the older man, who seemed to be the leader of the cavalcade, came over to her.  
  
"We will ride now. You may sit with Eoren, here," he indicated the boy who had helped her, "while we go through a different pass nearby.  
  
The party set off at a fast gallop towards the mountains. 


End file.
